Baobab Cooperative

Started in 2013, our newest woman's cooperative has 17 baobab seed oil producers and over 300 baobab seed collectors. The women are from the same region as our shea butter cooperative. They process oil from the seeds of the fruits of indigenous baobab trees which grow wild in the African savannah.

We have provided machinery and training and the women are now earning much needed income to support their families from the production of baobab oil. Like the shea butter cooperative, they are enrolled in the Ghana National Healthcare Plan, are voting members of their cooperative,and receive the same free trainings and available free literacy classes as the shea butter cooperative.

The baobab fruit is collected when it becomes ripe, from December to February each year. The seeds are seperated from the fruit, in preparation for oil extraction. The seed collectors include members of the baobab producer’s group, the shea butter cooperative, and other village women.

Previously, the babobab fruit was collected for local consumption, but the seeds were considered a waste product. Now, these women are able to diversify their incomes with a new source of revenue: collecting and saving the seeds of the highly nutritious super food, Baobab fruit.